


And I'll Be There to Welcome You Home

by JustAnotherStranger



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adam's last moments, Canonical Character Death, Domestic Fluff, M/M, or so you thought
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-04 21:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15849933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherStranger/pseuds/JustAnotherStranger
Summary: A dream of living together after having finished everything with the Garrison. To have a place to call home once everything was said and done.





	And I'll Be There to Welcome You Home

Adam could feel his hands shaking.

This was what they had trained for as cadets, so why was he so nervous? Why was he so afraid?

Maybe it was the fact that it wasn’t an ordinary war. Maybe it was the fact that they had no set protocol to handle this kind of invasion. Maybe it was the genuine fear of finally having to face what they had only imagined in scenarios.

It didn’t matter. None of it did.

It wasn’t like he had any other options.

He eyed his squadron. One grim expression after another, they clambered into their jets and begun their checks. Placing a hand onto his own fighter jet, he took a deep breath, and did what he always did when he was feeling anxious.

He remembered.

_‘Doing okay?’ Adam asked, placing a hand on Shiro’s forearm._

_‘Huh? Yeah… Yeah, Of course I am.’ The response was half-hearted at best. Shiro was fixated on the papers in front of him, and clearly not listening._

_With a huff, Adam pulled the report out of his hands. The ever-busy man let out an indignant ‘hey!’, and Adam stared him down._

_‘You’re hyperfocusing again, dumbass,’ said Adam, ‘It’s almost one in the morning.’_

_‘Shit… That late already?’ Shiro’s expression fell. ‘Man I’m-... I need this abstract polished and done by tonight or Holt-’_

_Shiro sat up straight, cutting himself off. He held his hand out expectantly, but Adam made no move to return the papers to him._

_‘Adam,’ Shiro’s brows drew together, ‘please.’_

_Adam couldn’t stand seeing his boyfriend this way. Shiro forgot to eat, forgot to sleep, and Adam was genuinely concerned for him. With a sigh, he relented and handed them back._

_‘Coffee?’ He offered quietly._

_Shiro’s eyes lit up._

_‘That would be great… Thank you.’_

Adam shifted in his seat, checking over his controls and communications with his team. In his ear, he could hear Sam Holt’s increasingly panicked voice, but he tuned it out. No matter how many times he clenched and unclenched his hands, the anxiety didn’t go away.

This was it, wasn’t it?

“This is Commander Iverson. Initiate base defense protocol, Beta-Five.”

Adam’s ears rang.

“I repeat, initiate base defense protocol, Beta-Five.”

There was no whining or crying. There just wasn’t any time.

“You heard the man,” he called out. “We’re up!”

The particle barrier went down in front of his eyes, and as his jet lurched, he felt his heart and stomach lurching with it.

_He set down the cup of coffee in front of Shiro, who finally threw the papers down with a painfully heavy sigh._

_‘I just…’_

_Adam sat down beside him. ‘Hm?’_

_‘One day,’ Shiro took a slow sip of his coffee, before coming to rest his head against the other’s shoulder. ‘One day we’ll have our own little place and we can just… Take it easy.’_

_Every time one of them was stressed, anxious, or even just tired, it seemed like they always came back to this conversation._

_Adam felt himself begin to smile._

_‘Mmmm… It’ll be in a quiet rural area where nobody can bother us.’_

_‘Keith can come visit whenever he feels like it. We can plant a garden or something, get a few dogs-’_

_‘...You can’t even take care of yourself and you want to start a garden?’_

_‘Well I have you, don’t I?’ Shiro teased. ‘We’d make a good team.’_

_Even as he was rolling his eyes, Adam couldn’t help but laugh. ‘I’d come home and you would probably be knocked out from staying up too late.’_

_‘Hey, no! Absolutely not!’ Shiro argued, grinning right back._

_‘Uh huh,’ Adam kissed his cheek. ‘Sure you wouldn’t.’_

It was their way out. Their form of escapism. A dream of living together after having finished everything with the Garrison. To have a place to call home once everything was said and done.

“Our weapons have no effect!” He cried out, dodging the incoming fire.

As his team grew desperate, evading what they could, he could see the explosions down below. The Galra easily overpowered them. He knew they wouldn’t last like this. He just had to hold out until they could figure out what to do.

“Evasive maneuvers!”

_‘One day we’ll make it a reality.’ Shiro chuckled, picking his report back, newly refreshed. ‘Guess I just have to hold out until then, huh?’_

_‘It’s worth holding out for, isn’t it? I just want you to come back safe.’ Adam reasoned softly, taking his glasses off and setting them on the table._

_Shiro was quiet for a moment. ‘I know you’re worried… But I promise, nothing’s gonna change between us. No matter what happens on Kerberos.’_

As his squadron dropped out one by one, Adam felt the sweat running down his back. He begged for his team to hold out, but they just weren’t strong enough. The explosions of the jets around him felt distant and unreal.

Time slowed to a crawl.

_‘You’ll come home to me safely.’ Adam said, giving Shiro no room for discussion._

_‘Of course I will.’ Shiro took Adam’s hand, and kissed it. ‘I’ll come back to you.’_

_‘And I’ll be there to welcome you home.’_

_Shiro’s soft smile would kill him, Adam thought._

“I’ve got target lock- No!”

Directly in front of him, his final teammate’s jet went down.

Eyes wide, Adam knew.

This was it. He couldn’t hold out.

He imagined Shiro smiling.

Imagined Shiro laughing, cuddling with him on some stupid couch they bought together, imagined Keith rolling his eyes with that hidden affectionate smile of his. He imagined walking through the front door of the small house they would have bought together and the firm hug he would have been pulled into, and he hoped.

Hoped that this time Shiro would be the one to welcome him home first.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm only like half sorry
> 
> Since only half of this ship still exists-


End file.
